1. Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates to an automatic seatbelt apparatus which allows an occupant of a vehicle to have a webbing automatically applied to himself after being seated, and more particularly to an automatic seatbelt apparatus which allows the stopping position of a slider to be altered in accordance with the physical build of the occupant.
2. Description of the Prior Art:
Heretofore, a proposal has been made with respect to an automatic seatbelt apparatus which is capable of automatically applying, or canceling the application of, a webbing around an occupant of a vehicle (Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 28552/1980).
The aforementioned automatic seatbelt apparatus is arranged such that one end of a webbing, the other end of which has been wound up by a takeup device installed in the central portion of a vehicle, is engaged in a slider which is capable of moving toward the front or rear of the vehicle by being guided by a guide rail disposed in the vicinity of the roof of the vehicle, thereby applying the webbing or canceling the application of the same by moving the slider.
More particularly, in a case where the slider has been moved to the end of the guide rail which is at the forward end of the vehicle, a space allowing the occupant to enter the vehicle is created between the intermediate portion of the webbing and a seat. When the occupant is seated on the seat, the slider moves to the vehicle rear end of the guide rail, thereby causing the webbing to be applied.
The stopping position of the slider which corresponds with this webbing-application state is detected by a limit switch so as to stop the slider. This limit switch is retained at a predetermined position (a position suited to an occupant of average build) on the guide rail, so that there are cases where such an automatic seatbelt apparatus fails to assume an optimum webbing-applied state when an occupant with a different type of build enters the vehicle.
To overcome this problem, there is an automatic seatbelt apparatus which is arranged such that the retaining position of the limit switch is made changeable.
Thus, if the position of the limit switch is adjusted in advance to suit the body of the individual occupant, an optimum webbing-applied state can be obtained.
However, in order to ensure that a load applied to the slider is transmitted positively to a vehicle body in a case where the vehicle is placed in a state of emergency, it is necessary to change the position of installation of a slider supporting member together with the position of the limit switch.
Since this supporting member is formed of a relatively heavy material with a relatively high rigidity, it is necessary to strengthen a moving mechanism for moving this supporting member, so that the structure disadvantageously becomes complicated, and the operating efficiency is poor.
In addition, with a structure in which the retaining position of the limit switch is made changeable, the change can be effected only when the slider is located at a stopping position either on the front side of the vehicle or on the rear side of the vehicle, and the change cannot be effected when the slider is in the other stopping position. Accordingly, since the change can be effected only before or after the occupant is seated on the seat, there has been a drawback in that this structure presents the problem of poor operating efficiency.